Singly-linked doubly-linked and circularly-linked list

Question

What are the differences between singly-linked doubly-linked and circularly-linked lists?

Answer 1

The difference is how many pointers all node has, and what they are pointing to. A linked list is included of "Nodes" each node holds data and one or more pointers. A singly linked list has one pointer per node, and a doubly linked list has two pointers per node. Some programs use many pointers per node. The purpose of these pointers is to contain the list together. In an individually linked list, you can view a node and can then move on to next node that it is pointing to till you have passed through them all. A doubly-linked list would have a pointer to the next node and to the previous node. Consequently you can move forward and backward through the list. A circularly-linked list does not necessarily have a set up number of pointers since it simply means that the last node points to the first node creating the big circle. A non-circularly-linked list would not hold this last to first pointer and thus you would eventually reach the end of the list and stop.